Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/70

70 (k-d 19)

I saw …     S R O H high-spirited, with gleaming head rinning swiftly     over the fair land; it had on its back     warlike strength. N O M     rode not-mailed A G E W     far traveling it bore strong on its way     a bold C O F O A H     the course was the brighter, the journey of these.     Say what I am called.

Ic seah     · ᛋ ᚱ ᚩ ᚻ · hygewloncne     heafodbeorhtne swist ne ofer sælwong     swiþe þrægan hæfde him on hrycge     hildeþryþe · ᚾ ᚩ ᛗ ·     nægledne rad · ᚪ ᚷ ᛖ ᚹ ·     widlast ferede rynestrong on rade     rofne · ᚳ ᚩ ᚠ ᚩ ᚪ ᚻ ·     for wæs þy beorhtre swylcra siþfæt     saga hwæt ic hatte

The first four lines are easy: S R O  H, or ‘horse’ written backwards, with an unarmed warrior on its back. The rest, five lines containing thirteen runes, is not easy. The text is certainly faulty and a great many emendations have been proposed. N O M is of course ‘man.’ A G E W for wega, ‘of ways,’ is genitive plural, but there is no syntax for a genitive. C O  F O A H is for haofoc, ‘hawk.’ Thus the general idea is: “I saw an unarmed warrior riding a spirited horse happily, with a hawk on his wrist.” (See the following riddle.)